Toward a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Qatar

Abstract

This study aims to contribute to the empirical literature on sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems by understanding the opportunities and constraints to support its development using the case of Qatar. This study was designed using a triangulation method to combine different data collection techniques to increase the validity and reliability of the results. The data collection incorporated multiple data sources, starting with secondary sources and then collecting primary data through 37 interviews with key informants, mainly start-up founders and key stakeholders, a technique previously used in studies of critical players in entrepreneurial ecosystems. The findings were four-fold: (1) entrepreneurial ecosystem conditions are essential as facilitators of entrepreneurship, innovation, and sustainability, but government intervention can inhibit the outputs if the policies are not designed as customer-centric, (2) business sophistication is fundamental to increase innovation and attractiveness for investors but requires a stronger academic, industry, and government collaboration, (3) knowledge and technology outputs are limited when the domestic market is small, and the knowledge transfer policies are complex, and (4) the sustainability of an entrepreneurial ecosystem is fostered by the exposure to a crisis, robust national culture, and joint vision to reach sustainable development. This study provides evidence that shows a positive relationship between innovation and sustainable economic development, which makes this research even more relevant to our aim of supporting the Qatar National Vision 2030; at the same time, it contributes to the GCC literature and guides policymakers in the region.

Comparative Analysis of the Determinants of Entrepreneurial Activities in the Middle East and Latin America

“…Government programs do not impact entrepreneurial activity. The reasons could be that governments do not design public policies and programs with a customer-centric view [52]. Research and development transfer lacks impact on entrepreneurial activity.…”

“…Research and development transfer does not have a significant impact on entrepreneurial activity; some studies conducted in this region found that there exists low technology absorption, poor systems that enable digital payments, and the technology and knowledge transfer is limited by complex policies [43,46,47]. Government programs do not have a significant impact on entrepreneurial activity.…”

“…As studies about EEs in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) remain scarce [42,43], the scope of this study is the Middle East region. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in the Middle East are continuing to foster entrepreneurship and education to improve the competitiveness of the region [44].…”

“…There exists funding for startups, and Qatar has a low unemployment rate; one of the weaknesses of the entrepreneurship ecosystem is the absence of skilled human capital [51]. Although there is a big effort from the government to create a sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem in Qatar, the results of the programs are not working because they are not designed based on the customer-centric view [52]. There also exists in Qatar the need to have more business ideas due to the lack of initiatives to foster that stage of the business creation process [43].…”

“…Government programs do not have a significant impact on entrepreneurial activity. Villegas-Mateos [52] found that government programs in Qatar, for example, do not create a positive impact because they are not customer-centric; that is the main reason why government programs in this region do not create enough impact on entrepreneurial activity. Guerrero et al [54] indicate that there exist different types of responses from government programs; some are for short-term issues and others for long-term issues, and the effectiveness of the government's efforts is heterogeneous.…”